Luce

Institute History

2019 Sundance Film Festival

Description

It’s been ten years since Amy and Peter Edgar (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) adopted their son from war-torn Eritrea, and they thought the worst was behind them. Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) has become an all-star student beloved by his community in Arlington, Virginia. His African American teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), believes he is a symbol of black excellence that sets a positive example for his peers. But when he is assigned to write an essay in the voice of a historical twentieth-century figure, Luce turns in a paper that makes an alarming statement about political violence. Worried about how this assignment reflects upon her star pupil, Harriet searches his locker and finds something that confirms her worst fears.

In this eye-opening psychological drama, director Julius Onah skillfully stretches the epidermal pores of the American Dream to emit the unseemly elements seething beneath its surface. Elegant and energetic, Luce is a complex and revealing film about trust, privilege, and the human need to categorize the world as we see it.

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